So to set the scene ....I'm currently sat on a balcony, looking out over a jungle lagoon (complete with residant crocodile 'coco') while being savaged by angry mosquito's .... 44 seeping bites on one leg at the moment -We can't wear insect repellent or sun lotion around the Sloths ! Eddie the German sheapard/Rottweiller is chilling beside me looking a little warm and a crazy neon orange bird is sat on a tree infront of me wacking out a tune :) Pura Vida !!!
So basically, the last few days have been full of deliceous food, card games, research and Sloths ! Judy and Luis arrived on monday and they are brilliant, huge respect for all the work they do here, true sloth whisperers ! We enjoyed a special full english breakfast cooked Costa Rica style together first thing, it was a-ma-zing !!The research has been going well, although I am still trying to figure out the best way to keep the device on the Sloths ! They get a bit grumpy when we use tape and occasionally decide to slowly savage it over night. They can be amazingly destructive given enough time ! We created a harness out of silicon yesterday but it turned out to be too big so re-sizing is underway. We have managed to get some good data though despite the problems... ! Since meeting Judy and Luis its clear that there really is sooo much to learn about these crazy animals. The research is just waiting to be done and 11 months isn't long enough for me to fit everything in !!! And I think Sloth is a bit of an unfortunate name, they are way too cool to be named after a deadly sin. In Spanish they are called Osos Perezosos - 'Lazy bears' !! A little unfair really !! We have hatched a plan to re-name them something much better.. like Serenes or Stealths !! Watch this space, you heard it here first. Papa Sloth (Rory) of the Sloth Patrol team has jetted off miami now for a seabird conference, leaving us minions alone to discover the secret lives of Sloths without him, eeek !
Anyway it has taken me so long to write this that it is now dark and I am being savaged even more vicously by the flies, there may be nothing left of me by the time I come to write another update ! I haven't had much time to go beyond the sanctuary but what I have seen so far is pretty cool. One thing is the wild crabs... loaaads of huge purple and yellow crabs everywhere, particuarly in the toilet!! I have seen waaay more crabs and cockroaches than spiders which makes me happy :) Anyway, work to be done and cards to be played !! Chow xxxx
My name is Rebecca Cliffe and I am a PhD student researching sloths at the Sloth Sanctuary of Costa Rica. I spend my days chasing wild sloths through the rainforest for the Sloth Backpack Project and trying to develop a release program to give hand-reared orphans a second chance at a life in the wild.
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